Elvis documentary 'The King' a provocative exploration of America's soul
<h3 class="briefHead">"The King" - ½</h3>
Prepare to be all shook up.
Eugene Garecki's "The King" marks a bold and blunt, bizarre and bemusing Elvis Presley documentary that stretches way beyond a conventional look at the man and his music.
Garecki has bigger fish to fry, and much better metaphors than the one in this sentence.
"The King" presents a provocative exploration of the nation's soul, linked like a conjoined twin to Presley's tragic legacy as the embodiment of the American dream, corrupted by capitalism and by a perversion of the pursuit of happiness.
As goes Elvis Presley, so goes the nation, the movie says. And Garecki persuasively argues that the U.S. has already entered the overweight, numbed-up, drugged-out final phase of the performer's once regal career.
The narrative conceit of "The King" involves Garecki fixing up Elvis' vintage 1963 Rolls-Royce with cameras, then taking it for a spin in key cities, allowing fans, singers and celebrities to sit on the King's automotive throne and make pithy observations.
"I don't know when your movie is coming out," Alec Baldwin confidently tells Garecki, "but Trump is not going to win."
Ethan Hawke notes that before Elvis, the world equated the U.S. with democracy. Post-Elvis, the U.S. became equated with capitalism.
Even Mike Meyers pops in to offer a punchy "Canadian immigration view" of the U.S., demonstrating Garecki's preference for perceptive, articulate celebrities over conventional droning experts and academics.
Garecki structures "The King" like an NPR broadcast, breaking up stretches of chattering heads with musical sound bites provided by artists using the Rolls-Royce as a mobile studio.
More of a political essay than a biography, "The King" offers fascinating insights from an eclectic pool of commentators, including critical rapper Chuck D, CBS anchor Dan Rather, Democratic strategist James Carville and Ashton Kutcher, addressing the corrosive forces of fame.
Garecki employs a shotgun approach to "The King," shooting quick-cut shards of film clips and news footage on the screen, like a gleeful experiment to see what hits. (Belabored film clips from 1933's "King Kong" miss.)
On Aug. 16, 1977, 42-year-old Elvis died of a drug overdose soon after his housekeeper found him lying on the bathroom floor, pleading, "Don't look at me! Help me!"
The handsome, charismatic rebel who captured the nation's optimism and personified our collective pursuit of happiness during the 1950s eventually sold out and betrayed the heart that's true.
And "Love Me Legal Tender" has become the new national anthem.
Note: Director Eugene Jarecki will conduct a Q&A after the Music Box Theatre's opening night showing of "The King" Friday, July 20.
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Directed by: Eugene Jarecki
Other: An Oscilloscope Laboratories release. At Chicago's Music Box Theatre. Not rated. Contains rough language. 107 minutes